As an endurance athlete with a jam-packed schedule, you spend the better part of your day running full tilt. Whether it’s work or play, you probably give everything 110% until you absolutely can’t anymore. Most of the time your body’s way of saying “no more!” is to throw a cold at you…or to give you enough consecutive sub-par workouts that you can’t ignore the fact that you are off your game.
But there is something more insidious that this big picture slow down. It happens every day and you are probably so conditioned to it that you don’t think twice about it: the midday slump.
It’s that part of the early afternoon, typically after lunch and long before you get to leave the office, where time seems to slow down and you struggle mightily to keep focused…or just keep awake! Fighting the nap is typically a short-term strategy that involves throwing sugar or caffeine at the problem.
Despite what you might think, you are absolutely not alone in this dilemma. Yet there are some people who seem to have teflon-like resistance to this otherwise inevitable daily dip. You too can lean to power through your day by finding the root cause of your problem and addressing it. Let’s get to work!
1.Save Active Tasks for Later in the Day
This first option is to make sure that you are active at this slower period of the day. Save up your errands, phone calls, etc for when sitting still isn’t really a viable option. A little foresight can keep you up-to-date on your work and operating at near full capacity.
2. Better Lunch & Food Habits
One of the biggest causes of the dip is poor food choices. The vast majority of working people end up eating highly-processed foods, either in a cafeteria or from a restaurant. Instead of fried foods and plenty of ketchup, focus on eating lean meats, reducing grains, and enjoy all the fruit and vegetables you can handle. Avoid spiking your insulin (with high fructose food), do your best to strive and maintain an even keel and you’ll be light-years ahead!
3. Regulate Caffeine Intake
If one cup is good, five cups must be better, right? In reality, most people cram their coffee in early in the morning to wake up, but then neglect their body later in the day when bonko-the-clown comes to visit. Do yourself a favor and space that coffee out; only one cup in the AM and then perhaps another one later in the afternoon as you are bonking. Not the best solution, but a good start!
4. Avoid A Monster Lunch
In addition to eating the right food, remember that eating individually large meals can also lead to “bonking” as blood flow is diverted to the stomach to process food. Instead of sticking to regimented meal times and/or starving yourself until lunchtime and then bingeing (and bonking), improve your daily performance by spacing your meals out and eating only as much as your body wants/needs.
5. Stay Hydrated
Another silent ambition killer seems to have no place your daily life outside of exercise, but it’s truly a leading cause: deyhydration. Lack of proper fluids hinders digestion, temperature regulation and more. Focus on getting in your 8 cups of water a day, regardless of daily exercise goals. You’ll not only put a dent in those false hunger cues, but you’ll be 100% ready for that PM workout.
6. Improve Your Sleep
We can’t ignore the fact that what you are doing during the day is probably affected by what you are doing at night. Some special cases aside (young kids, late-night work shifts), most of us have zero reason to be awake after 10 pm (social events aside). With technology you can now watch late night TV early and catch all the news without the time commitment. Start trying to wind your day down by 8pm and enjoy some quiet time before heading off to bed. Odds are you’ll “give in” to sleep much sooner if you are in a receptive state!
7. Go Zen — Give In.
The final option isn’t some magical pill. If you can’t fight it, why not just give in? 95% of the time you’ll only need 15 to 20 minutes of nap time to bounce back, and that’s way better then being found drooling on your desk….or discovering you just typed “k” for 9 consecutive pages. This might not be an option for everyone, but if you can work it into your day for those emergency situations, you’ll be back on your feet before you know it.
What do you do to beat the dip!?
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Hi, I'm Patrick McCrann. 
